Zabriskie’s Time-Trial Weaponry

May 18, 2012

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Garmin-Barracuda’s Dave Zabriskie used a commanding win on Stage 5 of the Amgen Tour of California to vault into the overall race lead. Here’s a look at the technology that helped get him across the line first. —Joe Lindsey

There are only a handful of Cervélo P5s in the world right now, and two of them are at the 2012 Tour of California. This one belongs to Stage 5 winner Dave Zabriskie of Garmin-Barracuda. The P5 is Cervélo’s next-generation advancement over the P4, and includes a number of new features like hydraulic rim brakes and extremely smart cable management.

Magura’s RT8 hydraulic rim brake caliper features arms that follow the shape of the fork to help aerodynamics. The hydraulic fluid line runs into the back of the caliper, keeping it “clean” in the air as well. And while many TT bikes suffer from substandard braking, the powerful hydraulic calipers offer impressive stopping power.

Magura makes dedicated brake levers for the system, but as you'll notice, there's no built-in system for Shimano's Di2 shifters. At the Giro d'Italia, Garmin mechanics cobbled a custom solution for Ryder Hesjedal, but in California mechanics haven't had time for that retrofit yet.

Cervélo uses a clever interpretation of the International Cycling Union's rules on tube gussets to sculpt a seat tube–top tube juncture that would normally be an illegal shape. Anything to make the bike faster.

Garmin's Castelli skinsuits have a special pouch in the center of the back. In WorldTour races where radio communication is allowed, it can hold the riders' radio transmitters. But at races like the Tour of California time trial—held in 101-degree heat in Bakersfield—it's handy for socks stuffed with crushed ice.

Garmin has a special non-production version of Giro's TT helmets. This is Dave Zabriskie's Captain America livery as he is the U.S. national time-trial champion. First used at the Tour de France team time trial last year, the helmets are far blunter than even the Advantage 2 time-trial helmets that most other Giro-sponsored teams wore. Garmin's sports scientist, Robby Ketchell, says that the profile has better aerodynamics in windy conditions. One downside: zero ventilation.

Time trial bikes require special care. Team mechanics spend hours tinkering with internal cable routing, machining custom mounts for everything from computers to batteries, and doing anything they can to make the bikes faster (like removing bottle cages used in course recon). Here, Garmin-Barracuda's Alex Banyay goes over Zabriskie's Cervélo P5 to ensure that everything is in perfect working order.